An Indiana County, PA man was working at a Hilcorp drill pad in North Beaver Township (Lawrence County), PA, helping to load “large sections of steel pipeline and drilling equipment” onto a truck when the load became unstable and a large pipe fell from the truck and struck/killed the man. Leonard Clair Long, Jr., 60 years old, died at the scene. He worked for Hilcorp subcontractor Ziegenfuss Drilling.
It’s always a sad day when we have to report accidents like this. Our thoughts and prayers go to the Long family. Certainly OSHA, and perhaps other regulatory agencies, will investigate the accident. No drilling was happening at the time of the accident. It sounds like Long and others were moving equipment, either to or from the pad.
Here’s the best two stories we could find about this tragic incident:
An Indiana County man was killed Monday when a pipe reportedly fell on him at a gas well drilling site in North Beaver Township.
The man has been identified as 60-year-old Leonard Clair Long Jr. of Glen Campbell, Pa.
Emergency officials did not know late yesterday the name of the company for which Long was working, but said he was not an employee of Hilcorp Energy, which runs the drilling operation at the site.
Deputy Coroner Alfred DeCarbo said reports were that Long and other workers were securing a load of pipe onto a truck when two of the pipes fell and one struck him in the chest.
North Beaver fire chief Paul Henry said they received a call around 11 a.m. that a pipe had fallen on a man at the well site.
“When we got there, the man was in cardiac arrest,” Henry said.
Members of the North Beaver Township fire department and workers on site who were trained in CPR worked for about 45 minutes or longer to resuscitate him, but their efforts were unsuccessful. Henry said a medical helicopter also arrived and its crew members also assisted in the efforts.
DeCarbo said he pronounced Long dead at 12:17 p.m. An autopsy was scheduled for Monday evening at Heritage Valley Health Center in Beaver County to determine the exact cause of death. He said that Long apparently had suffered chest trauma.
Henry said the department received the first call around 11 a.m. that a pipe had fallen onto a man at the Kephart well site, a drilling operation by Hilcorp Energy. The site is off Route 551 en route to SNPJ Borough and Enon Valley.
Henry said that when the fire department arrived at the accident scene, no ambulances were available to respond from Lawrence County. The first responding ambulance arrived from the Medical Center in Beaver about 20 minutes to half an hour later, he estimated.
Both Henry and DeCarbo said they believe the accident will be investigated by the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration. (1)
And this report, which includes a statement from Hilcorp:
A man was killed at a Lawrence County gas/oil well site Monday.
Pennsylvania State Police say troopers were sent to a Hilcorp gas/oil well site on Mt. Jackson Road in North Beaver Township around 11:15 a.m. for a report that someone had been injured.
According to police, 60-year-old Leonard Clair Long Jr., of Glen Campbell, Pa., and his coworkers were trying to load and secure large sections of steel pipe and drilling equipment onto a truck.
The load became unstable and a large section of pipe fell from the truck and struck Long.
Emergency medical services, firefighters and a medical helicopter were sent to the scene.
Attempts to resuscitate Long were unsuccessful and he was pronounced dead at the scene.
Hilcorp released the following statement about the incident:
“On Monday, March 18, 2019, an employee of Ziegenfuss Drilling was fatally injured at the North Beaver-Kephart location in the North Beaver Township near Enon Valley, Pennsylvania. We join Ziegenfuss Drilling in sending our thoughts and prayers to the family. Immediately after the incident, Hilcorp and Ziegenfuss notified the appropriate authorities. While the cause of the accident is not known at this time, a full investigation by the appropriate regulatory agencies is being conducted with the full cooperation of Hilcorp and Ziegenfuss. No active drilling operations were occurring at the time of the accident. Pending the investigation, no further work at the site is planned.”
No one else was injured. (2)
(1) New Castle (PA) News (Mar 18, 2019) – Man killed by falling pipe at well site
(2) Pittsburgh (PA) KDKA CBS (Mar 18, 2019) – Man Killed By Falling Pipe At Lawrence Co. Well Site
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